Executives from the companies that run the halfway houses defended their operations before the Senate’s Legislative Oversight Committee, during a four-hour hearing that also saw the state’s comptroller, Department of Corrections officials, former employees and law enforcement officers detail conditions in the privately run facilities, some of which house hundreds of people and resemble traditional jails.

Supporters and former residents of the halfway houses packed the committee room, cheering on company executives. Lawmakers used the hearing to not only raise questions about the halfway houses, but also the push to privatize state operations in general.

“Basically, we cut a check and hope for the best,” said Sen. Barbara Buono, D-Middlesex. “This isn’t a halfway house issue, it’s a state of New Jersey issue.”

Governor Christie, a Republican, has been pushing New Jersey to find more ways to save taxpayer dollars through privatization, but some lawmakers during the hearing questioned whether some of the bad experiences with the halfway houses — some of which predate Christie’s time in office — provide a reason for caution.

The issue posed political trouble for the governor: One of his closest advisers, William J. Palatucci, is a high-ranking officer with Community Education Centers, one of the private companies that operate halfway houses in New Jersey. But the hearing veered away from politics, and focused primarily on ways to improve the state’s $64 million network of halfway houses.

Comptroller Matthew Boxer was the first to speak before the committee, outlining an audit his office released last year that revealed overbilling by the private companies and a general lack of oversight at the facilities that make up the halfway house program.

A series of stories published last month in The New York Times detailed examples of drug use and violence in the halfway houses and also regular escapes. Christie ordered stepped-up inspections at the private facilities after those reports.

But Department of Corrections Commissioner Gary Lanigan told lawmakers that many improvements have been made since Boxer’s audit was released in June 2011, saying the dozens of recommendations forwarded to him by the comptroller are being followed.

“I believe today we are doing a much better job,” he said.

And Lanigan corrected Committee Chairman Robert Gordon, D-Fair Lawn, when the senator suggested the facilities are not safe, as the newspaper reporting suggested.

“I don’t believe the facilities are unsafe, senator,” Lanigan said. “Is the system out of control? Absolutely not.”

John Clancy, chairman and chief executive officer of Community Education Centers, said, “There’s always room for improvement, we are all ­committed to that.” But he went on to dispute “inaccurate reports” that he said “left the reader with the false impression that I or the company did |not care or took no action in the face |of some tragic events inside our facilities.”

Gordon suggested that placing armed guards inside the facilities to support unarmed staff and counselors might improve conditions, but Clancy said one of the company’s facilities in Colorado requires such guards and they are generally bored.

“In my opinion, it’s a waste of money,” he said.

Filling the room and clapping at times while Clancy spoke were people wearing large white stickers that read: “Reentry Workers Support Community Corrections.”

George Mitchell, who said he was an employee of Delaney House in New­ark, said most people in the crowd work for a halfway house.

“The great majority are staff,” he said. He added that there were also alumni in the crowd, and many staff members are themselves halfway house alumni. But many of the supporters would not be interviewed — and one woman said she had been told by organizers not to talk to the press. Mitchell said no one told him to attend the hearing, but he was informed about it at work.

“At the end of the day, we’re dealing with a corrections issue,” he said. “There’s always going to be problems.”